Dave Pollard's chronicle of civilization's collapse, creative works and essays on our culture. A trail of crumbs, runes and exclamations along my path in search of a better way to live and make a living, and a better understanding of how the world really works.

Monthly Archives: February 2008

Just about a year ago I wrote an article called Nobody But Yourself about human nature and the benefits and costs of the social contract we make with others. I still think it’s one of the best articles I’vewritten.

After Nancy White pointed me to Chris Lott’s articles on Northern Voice, and on love, and Chris replied to my Tuesday post on how easily we unintentionally hurt each other through our actions, I did a bit more research on … Continue reading →

photo from Northern Voice last weekend by Chris Heuer I confess to still being an insensitive guy (though some people would say “insensitive guy” is a redundant expression). I’ve been trying to get better at this, but I think it’s … Continue reading →

This past weekend I attended Northern Voice, the annual Canadian social networking forum in Vancouver. As with most conferences, the most valuable conversations and learnings emerged in the corridors, or more specifically in the Atrium of the UBC campus, a … Continue reading →

Image: Tony Bridge, On Sitka Sound Bit of a mishmash this week, but stuff worth reading. Imagining a Better Way to Live: My Swedish friend Steve presents a Future State vision of a sustainable community-based society based on a gift … Continue reading →

A slightly modified version (with my recent point on experimenters not leaders grafted on) of my story from four years ago about why we find it so difficult to imagine a better way to live. This was my reading in … Continue reading →

Dali, The Persistence of Memory I‘ve written before that two of the resources that are scarcest in our society are time and attention. We parse our time so narrowly, and spend so much time in urgent and administrative work that … Continue reading →

One of the challenges with complex systems is that understanding of the problem and solution co-evolve — you can’t determine root causes, you can’t identify all the variables that affect the outcomes, and you can’t predict what will happen. That … Continue reading →

“I want it all”, Hanna told him. He’d been walking back to his hotel after his conference presentation and decided to stop at one of Paris’ renowned sidewalk bistros. He’d found one that looked attractive. As he walked along the … Continue reading →